Full Sneak Mount Help Needed

ckat

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It’s getting time to choose a form for my buck. I have decided on a full sneak, left turn, but I cannot find the form I want. My taxidermist is willing to use any form from any company. My research (confirmed by my taxidermist) is that the McKenzie forms tend to be slender faced and necked.

My buck was neither - he was rutting hard and heavy - swollen necked and jousting does prior to the shot. Hoping to re-create my memories through the mount.

I found this Steve Tait form that was perfect, but it is no longer available. Any ideas?
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Thanks, Cahunter805!

Robiland, I know those are pedestal forms, but would you mind sharing the make and series? Thanks!
 
If you like the general McKenzie look, your taxidermist should be able to use one as it shouldn't be that hard to build up muscle/facial detail on a form to match and fit the cape. The form is just a starting point and should be customized a little or a lot to fit the cape.
Joe Coombs has a wall-ped full sneak, but it might not work out if your taxidermist can't customize the form for your cape.
There are also whitetail forms that can be used with a change out head.
Also, many full sneak mounts have the antlers set too far forward- as the nose comes up on the full sneak pose, then the antlers should tip back.

Have you asked Steve if he will sell you that form?
 
I have hunted and mounted a fair amount of mule deer, I used mckenzie and won't use there forms for muley's, I've tried trufit, and a few others, the best I have found by far is one form Reasearch Manikins the scultor is Jett Smith. By far the best. I have 6 muleys mounted this one stands out the most realistic. Wide face, nose is good, nice full neck.

 
If you like the general McKenzie look, your taxidermist should be able to use one as it shouldn't be that hard to build up muscle/facial detail on a form to match and fit the cape. The form is just a starting point and should be customized a little or a lot to fit the cape.
Joe Coombs has a wall-ped full sneak, but it might not work out if your taxidermist can't customize the form for your cape.
There are also whitetail forms that can be used with a change out head.
Also, many full sneak mounts have the antlers set too far forward- as the nose comes up on the full sneak pose, then the antlers should tip back.

Have you asked Steve if he will sell you that form?
I have not, but saw a post of his from years ago that the mold had been sold to some outfit in Utah, but they quit forming them due to the price of foam.

Would you mind expanding on the Joe Coombs form?
 
Never hurts to ask and Steve is a nice guy. He has a website so you can send him a message.
The Joe Coombs form comes in one size, so most likely your taxidermist would have to alter the form to fit your cape (as he should do with most forms). You can search it and see the form.
The point is that a taxidermist should be able to add some clay or shave some foam to make a form fit the cape. Over stretching the hide on a form too large doesn't produce the best product, while having a form too small doesn't produce the best product either.
 
The low slung sneak form you are looking for is distributed by Dave Ferguson taxidermy in Harrisville Utah. I sold him the mold so I know. Look Dave up. He is a great guy and will sell one.

Shane
 
You should just have Steve mount it. He is still doing taxidermy. That way you will get what you want.
 
The first pic is a Joe Coombs full sneek wall ped, yes it only comes in one size. I generally change the head out on the Coombs. It's very whitetailish, really narrow head. The second is a McKenzie 4md sneek wall ped. That one is a whitetail form with some anatomy modification. Like stated earlier not every form fits every deer and modifications are a must for a great mount.

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Wyo_R,
I like your form, but prefer the nose to be a touch higher similar to the Steve Tait form.

Nontypical,
Any idea what form that is?
I do not know what the form is. The mount was done by Dewey Wildlife Studio in Cody, Wyoming. I'm sure they modified the form a bit. I just told them what I wanted and they took it from there. A good taxi should be able to do that for you. Find the form that's closest to what you want and take it from there! I highly recommend Dewey Wildlife Studio. They also did my ram. Looks like Uttaxi1 does some fine work as well!
 
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Just an update… I called Dave Furgeson in Utah - Super nice and helpful. They are now making the Steve Tait low-slung sneak form in different sizes and both turns. They also added a left turn sneak wall pedestal form to their line. I almost went with the wall pedestal, but the Steve Tait form hit me so hard when I first saw it that I couldn’t turn my back on it.

I can’t wait to see the finished product! Thanks for the help and suggestions.
 
When my taxidermist needed a bigger neck than he could get in mule deer forms he turned to whitetail forms, got the biggest mule deer form he could find, and chopped it off and put it on the giant swollen whitetail form neck.

Apparently in the taxidermy catalogs there are like two pages of mule deer forms and dozens and dozens of pages for whitetail. This was 10 years ago, and it wasn’t a sneak pose, but that may be an option if you have a taxi keen on the idea.
 

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